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I think I bought a Lemon!

Filled the tank up and put injector cleaner in the D5 this morning and set off for its first long run. Off down to the south coast to see my old dad in his nursing home. Got on the
M25 and that horrible jointed concrete surface (that I HATE) was hiding faults. I sensed a 'misfire' but ignored it as the crappy road! Well got onto the 'posh bit' that actually has TARMAC on it and is smooth past junction 10 and then I noticed it.

The car was 'chuntering' with a steady throttle setting there was a noticeable stutter every now and then, almost like a misfire on a petrol engine. then it would stop for 15 minutes then back again. Well as soon as I turned off at J7 and had to stop for a roundabout the dash lit up like a christmas tree! I pulled into the dirt layby just off the 25 on the A24.The engine was running normal and had setted down but I had the red triangle on and URGENT ENGINE SERVICE lit on the DIM. So I turned round and headed home with it in 'SLUG MODE', managing about 45 on the motorway. Well the POS got me back to my yard where I keep the other cars, turned it off waitied a few minutes and tried starting it again NOTHING!!! At first attempt it felt like fuel starvation.

So back to the house (in the smart car) picked up the now fully working VIDA and plugged it in and got THIS LOT...............

Now there is an ECM 2505 fault which says FUEL PRESSURE TOO LOW..(fuel pump)????
BUT WTF????? There are faults on almost EVERY MODULE!!
In short it has more faults than my T5 Im repairing for its MOT!!!
I have contacted the numpty I got it off as I have only driven about 170 miles since I bought it - 70 of those picking it up from him! As expected NO REPLY.

Now at this stage I am %$%*ING FUMING and frankly Im phoning the scrappy tomorrow and it can go or im going to part it out! Ive certainly been shafted by the guy that sold it. Luckily I only paid £1100 for it but I see that as lost money. Driving back from his place it was perfect apart from the radio and the cruise (which looks down to the steering angle sensor)

Looking at the VIDA faults is this heap viably repairable or is it best to quit while the going is good? A builder mate of mine has offered to "send a transit full of lads down to encourage the previous owner to reimburse me".......ahem......so I have that option!

BTW if I scrap it there is a FULL TANK of Shell ultimate DIESEL and Wynns Gold injector cleaner going cheap! (( shame my others are petrol

But when I picked up the car the guy told me the battery went flat quickly. I checked the battery and it had a couple of cells low on water. I topped them up with de-ionised water and it seemed to hold a charge better. But today after that 60 odd mile drive it died whilst using VIDA in position 2. It was impossible to start the engine so I hooked up jump leads from the T5 to finish the diagnostics.

I did wonder if voltage was an issue as there are so many strange items that arent working?

OK thanks Harvey but theres no way I can test the alternator as it wont start? One of the fault codes is low fuel pressure, could the pump be knackered? And which one would it be as theres one in the tank and a high pressure on the engine?

With that many fault codes . I would say power issues is the first thing to look into .

THANKS guys

The only thing worrying me is that I had the car getting 14.7 volts from my T5 - the D5 would crank but wouldnt fire. Also I dont want to spend £150 on a battery only to find its dead a week later as it was the alternator. The trouble is I cant meter the output from the alternator without it running so Catch 22

The Following User Says Thank You to Harvey For This Useful Post:

sounds very likely to be a voltage problem ...as mentioned previously a replacement or even borrowed battery will most likely solve most of your codes..delete the codes when a new battery is fitted and if it runs(i suspect it will) and see what codes return :

With that many fault codes, I wouldn't be too concerned. I've seen many cars at the roadside with more than double that amount of faults and they just end up being a broken Earth wire or a charging fault.

First things first, as already said, get a new battery fitted and keep it on charge whilst carrying out diagnostics!! Do not let the new battery go flat.
With Diesels especially, if the voltage falls below 11.8v the injectors will starts to behave erratically, which may explain the hesitation and slight misfire. Also, a battery can fail / go open circuit / dead short internally, after it's last start and if it cannot absorb the charging output you will get odd things happening. The fact it had two dry cells would be an obvious sign to me that the battery is defective, irrespective of the fact you added distilled water to the cells.
Also, having that many fault codes can also prevent the car being started, so you may not be able to start the car until you;

A) Replace the battery with a new one.
B) Clear the fault codes as per VIDA instructions.

I have to say, when you set out on your road trip and got to junc 7 M25, you were only 30 minutes from my house mate!

I reitterate, having that many fault codes would not faze me at the roadside. I really wouldn't worry too much as nearly all those fault codes are in relation to low voltage and the fact is, if you had low fuel pressure whilst driving, the engine would have cut out and not restarted.
9/10 the issue with fuel pressure or lack of, will often be the fuel pressure sensor or electric pump in the tank.

Sort out A and B above then relist the fault codes that come back. Then we'll see what's going on.

One more thing to add.
If you test the charging voltage at the battery and only see 13.5-13.8v and you know the battery is defective/old/suspect or even proven to be condemned....it's a fact that high internal resistance will affect the meter reading you see and fool you into thinking your Alternator is not outputting enough or you've a bad earth (the latter could be checked using voltdrop).
By simply fitting a new battery you'll often find the meter reading is completely different and rises to 14.2-14.7v.

I'd also avoid batteries you've never heard of! 3 years warranty means cheap rubbish these days. So avoid Lion batteries etc.
Only buy quality units with 4+ years warranty, like Yuasa, Varta or Bosch. There only a few quid more!

Let her idle for an half an hour then tried a restart. She starts but takes a LONG TIME??? Hanging on the starter for maybe 15-20 seconds?

I had the T5 idling next to the D5 to give the battery its weekly charge and I was getting 14.23 V running (new alternator fitted in 2016), the D5 only 13.62 V so I am suspecting the alternator is almost fried?

Havent had time today to do a VIDA road run and full diags so I will do this tomorrow to see whats going on. What is the ideal charging voltage Lee please?